Obama is a Clinton outsider. He's a Democrat, sure, but not in the Clinton inner circle, so it was much easier for newer Democrats or Democrats who just didn't like the Clintons to side with Obama.
Agreed.
Clinton vs. Gore, however, would have been a disaster, because you are now dealing with political loyalties to the same inner circle. If you were in the inner circle, or even a new Democrat, do you pick Bill Clinton's wife, or Bill Clinton's right-hand man that lost a Presidential election on a technicality?
I would pick whomever Bill Clinton would pick; as for the "technicality" part, though, you are talking about the fact that a (new) statewide recount was not conducted in Florida, correct? After all, I certainly wouldn't consider Gore losing the electoral vote while losing the popular vote to be a loss by a technicality.
Not only would people feel betrayed and attack one other, but it would undermine the election and the Clinton legacy.
This might be a good point; of course, couldn't all of this have been avoided if Gore still chose not to run in 2004 while Hillary would have chosen to run that year?
Sure, Clinton could argue that Gore was ungrateful. But people could sneer at that and say he's trying to be a better husband than a loyal friend.
To be fair, though, Gore wasn't exactly a loyal friend to Clinton in 1999-2000.
Everytime Gore gets accused of blowing an election, it'll bring the Democrats back to the lawsuits and the Florida debacle.
Yes, but I am unsure that this in itself will actually fracture the party (though it might very well allow Bush to portray Gore as a sore loser and thus help his own chances of getting reelected in 2004).
The party would be so fractured that they would almost have no other option but to support a third candidate in order to preserve party unity.
Maybe ... maybe.
The fiasco would have had Republicans having a field day, because they could just coast to victory as Democrats destroy each other, pick a candidate not everyone supports, and win.
Yes, this is certainly a possibility.